


Let It Snow

by AlexandersStele



Series: We Always Seem to Find Our Way Back to Each Other - One Shots [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Raphael is a Grinch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21908119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandersStele/pseuds/AlexandersStele
Summary: Raphael closed his door to get back to work and Magnus turned to their living room, tilting his head and scanning the bare looking room. No this couldn't wait. He needed that tree and he needed it right now. Even if that meant carrying the damn thing home all by himself. He grabbed his coat and keys and made his way out of their apartment. When he reached the door of the building, he noticed that the snow had gotten stronger but that didn't hold him back from leaving anyway. His mind was set on getting this tree and nothing was gonna stop him now.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Raphael Santiago, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: We Always Seem to Find Our Way Back to Each Other - One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578052
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	Let It Snow

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to do a series of Malec meet-cute one-shots in different scenarios. This is the first one, hope y'all like it :)

“RAPHAEL!” Magnus’ joyous voice chimed through their cozy Brooklyn apartment while he was brushing off little snowflakes from his coat. “Raphael, are you home?”

It has been snowing for the first time this year which was lighting up Magnus' mood even more than usual. He just finished a particularly busy shift in his own little coffee shop around the corner but even though it was exhausting, it didn’t ruin his mood at all. Owning a coffee shop had been his lifelong dream and after finally coming up with the funds and opening it six months ago, seeing it bloom made him even more cheerful. It has been hard in the beginning when he was trying to build new relationships with customers, struggling with money from time to time when his little shop was unknown to the people in the area, but he still loved what he was doing. There hasn’t been a single day when Magnus came home without a smile on his face. He wasn’t a grumpy person. He never has been. And that was probably one of the reasons why people keep coming back and made his shop a success in just six months. Which made the fact that he was sharing an apartment with basically the grumpiest person in all of New York City even funnier. But after all, Magnus and Raphael had been friends since childhood and deep down, Magnus knew that there was a soft side hidden inside even if Raphael rarely liked to show it.

“Raphaaaaeeeeeeel? I know you’re home, come out!” he tried again.

There was a light coming out under Raphael's door, so before he made his way towards it, Magnus put down his keys and shook off his slightly wet jacket. He was probably wearing headphones or just didn't hear him calling his name. Raphael was mostly working from home, programming for bigger companies here and then, and it wasn't rare that he just zoned out when he had a new assignment and even if he wasn't working on a project, his flatmate barely left their flat to avoid what he called _annoying people_.

"Hey!" Magnus called, knocking on the door. "Get your lazy butt out!"

Raphael's door opened and Magnus' flatmate glared at him. "Did someone die or why are you shouting like that?"

"Don't be such a drama queen. I already called you twice and you didn't react. Chop, chop. Enough work for today, let's have some fun," Magnus demanded.

"You know that your and my definition of fun is very different," Raphael replied, overdramatically rolling his eyes at his friend.

Magnus smiled and gave him a little nudge. "Oh, come on. You know what date it is?"

"December 1. Why?" his flatmate asked, clearly not getting the hint.

"Exactly," Magnus gushed, his eyes sparkling with joy. "It's almost Christmas. It's time to get a Christmas tree!"

The holidays were Magnus' favorite part of the year and he couldn't help but decorating their flat for every occasion as soon as the last one was over. Much to the despair of Raphael who liked it simple and didn't know what the fuss was about. If Magnus' wouldn't be his best friend, he would've said something but knowing he couldn't stop him anyway, he just let him do his thing as long as he didn't have to be involved in the process.

"It's still almost a month until Christmas. You just took down all the Thanksgiving stuff. You literally have no chill, dude. Apart from that, I have an important project due tomorrow and I really have no time for this right now."

Magnus pouted. "There is a Christmas tree sale just a block away. It'll take half an hour maximum. Oh, come on. How am I supposed to carry that thing all by myself?"

"Magnus, I really have no time right now. Can't it wait until I finished my project?" Raphael complained.

Knowing his flatmate, Magnus knew that there was no way he was getting Raphael out of the house right now so he gave in. "Fine. But you'll help me tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, yes. But I won't do any decorating. That's all on you."

Raphael closed his door to get back to work and Magnus turned to their living room, tilting his head and scanning the bare looking room. No this couldn't wait. He needed that tree and he needed it right now. Even if that meant carrying the damn thing home all by himself. He grabbed his coat and keys and made his way out of their apartment. When he reached the door of the building, he noticed that the snow had gotten stronger but that didn't hold him back from leaving anyway. His mind was set on getting this tree and nothing was gonna stop him now. 

When Magnus reached the Christmas tree sale, it was already crowded with people. "Ha! Take that Raphael. It's not too early to get a Christmas tree," he said to himself, glancing back victoriously in the direction of their apartment building. "Let's do this."

He dove into the varieties of trees, eyeing them thoroughly and looking for imperfections. The sale had them all: too big trees, too small trees, too sparse trees, too bushy trees. It was as if the universe was trying to prevent Magnus from finding the perfect tree. But then after browsing another fifteen minutes through the massive sale area, he finally found it. He did a joyous little jump and instantly hoped that none of his customers were around to see that but no one was batting an eye so he guessed he was fine. It was getting colder now so after that short blushing moment, he called the vendor and asked him to wrap up the tree so he could quickly carry it home before he turned into an icicle.

Magnus started lifting the tree when he realized that carrying it all by himself wasn't going as easy as he expected it to be. Well, or at least how he wanted it to be. He tried different positions for the tree to carry and eventually decided to wrap his right arm around it and hold it steady with his left hand. He would only be able to make it a few steps at a time like that but he was planning to take some breaks on the way back to the apartment. Luckily they had an elevator or he would never be able to get it to the fourth floor they were living on. Maybe he should've waited for Raphael after all, he thought after he took the first steps.

"Need a hand?" an unfamiliar voice behind him asked all of a sudden.

Startled, Magnus turned around, forgetting all about that huge tree that was tucked under his arm and felt a slight resistance against the side of the tree followed by a muffled noise, sounding as if someone had fallen on the snow-covered ground. He dropped the tree immediately and saw that a tall man was lying on the ground in front of him.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Magnus asked concerned, crouching down to check for injuries he might have caused.

"A _no, thank you_ would've been enough," the man laughed, holding his stomach. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Seeing the man on the ground smiling at him, Magnus only realized now how gorgeous he was. The man's hat was knocked off his head and was lying next to him, revealing a messy, shiny bunch of black hair and his hazel eyes were holding a kind of warmth Magnus hadn't seen in a while around here. 

He blushed and suddenly began to stutter. "Erm, I, so sorry. Need, erm, a hand?"

He held out his hand to the stranger who took it graciously not averting his gaze from Magnus' face. Magnus helped him up and he saw that the back of the man's jacket was soaking wet from the snow.

"Your jacket, I, sorry. I didn't mean to," he whispered.

"It's nothing," the man shushed him. "So, about that tree, do you live far from here and do you need help?"

Magnus came back to his senses and glanced at the tree lying on the ground next to the spot where the man was lying just a minute ago. He smiled nervously. "You really don't have to. I only live a block from here. You should rather get home and change before you get sick."

"But I want to. You looked like you were struggling to carry it all by yourself. Come on, let me help you. Ten minutes more or less won't make it worse," the young man insisted, already picking up the tree from the ground.

"Well if you insist. But let me make it up to you, okay?" Magnus replied.

He took the other side of the tree and they both carried it to Magnus' apartment building without saying a single word on the entire way there. When they reached the building, Magnus insisted they can just leave it in the hallway as he didn't want to disturb Raphael. As he was turning around to say thank you, he saw that the young man was about to leave.

"Hey!" Magnus said and the man turned around. "Don't leave yet. You're still soaking wet and I said I'll make it up to you. We can't go up because my flatmate is working but I have a coffee shop just around the corner. What do you say? Hot chocolate or tea to warm up and dry?

"Sounds good," the man said and smiled.

Magnus closed the front door and they started to make their way down to Magnus' coffee shop which was just 3 minutes away.

"I saw you doing a little jump when you found that tree. I thought it was cute," the man said out of the blue which made Magnus blush again as he had hoped no one had seen that. 

"Erm, thanks?" Magnus chuckled nervously.

"And I think we totally have forgotten to introduce ourselves in all that chaos," the man smiled. "Alec. My name is Alec."


End file.
